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This time, Wie’s door
hard to Open

HERE it is, world. It happens today. Everything you've been waiting for. Michelle Wie plays for something, today. Pressure's on.

Isn't that what you've been waiting for?

Admit it. This is different. Now it matters, win or lose. No free entry. No gift. This is it -- you take it or you don't, you win or you lose.

This is going to be fun. That's why you tee it up and play. Today at Turtle Bay, Michelle Wie is scheduled to try to qualify (for the next round of qualifying, and so on) for the U.S. Open. No exemptions. No exceptions. Just competition. Just clutch.

That's what's great about the Open. It's OPEN. Anybody can get in, as long as (s)he qualifies through.

We haven't seen that from Wie yet. Not in a long, long time. And that's been the constant complaint, hasn't it? If only she'd have had to qualify like everybody else. Everyone says it. I've said it. I've said it over and over again.

But instead she's slipped under the ropes at every turn. Been offered a cut in line and taken it. Can we blame her? That's another argument.

There was a recent column on Wie in the Washington Post based on a quote in a Sports Illustrated story about somebody else (how's that for six degrees of separation?). The column took Wie and her family to task for saying she isn't interested in being a great women's golfer like Annika Sorenstam. No, her focus is elsewhere. Michelle wants to be a PGA Tour player, and catching Tiger is the goal.

Well, you never know what the distant future will bring -- she is only 15, after all, anything could happen -- but on the surface that sounds kind of crazy and the writer went after Wie a little, his point being she's living in a fantasy world.

Well, yeah.

Well, duh.

I think a lot of people who have followed her schedule and heard some of the proclamations she makes would say that this isn't too far off the mark. Exemptions at every turn, no concept of the rules -- unwritten or otherwise -- everyone else has to go by, acting as if a lot of big things are already behind her when she hasn't yet won them or done them.

We can argue all day whether any of this is good for her or not in her career's long term or whether these short cuts help or hinder her development as a player or whether she should take them or turn it all down.

She's living in a fantasy world because that's the world she's living in.

Every entry rule is bent for her, every door is opened if only she says she'll be there. And she takes it, because she can. It's a different reality than most.

We all think we'd be strong -- we'd have chosen to skip the trips and go to school and work the carnival, but come on.

Several weeks away from school, spent out on the road? Hotel room, here we come.

If you could live in your own little fantasy world, would you?

A few of us already are living in our own fantasy worlds.

The difference is, when Wie does it, it's in the paper and on TV.

And yeah, that's got to be a lot of fun at 15. But you know what? This is better. This is real. Today is different. This is why we love these games.

We don't want to see our champions skip to the front of the line. We want to see them beat all comers. We want to see a fight first. It's always better that way.

You know the only thing better than a 15-year-old playing in the U.S. Open? A 15-year-old who beat anyone who was in her way to get there. Now that's a great story. Now that's something fun to watch.

But this is different. It will feel different. Pressure now. It's not so easy. No exceptions for her now. Just competition. Just clutch.

She's going to have a great time, today. We all will. This is what you've been waiting for, isn't it? Let's see what she's got. This is what's great about the Open. Let's go. Tee it up.